Is the 'war on motorists' really over?

A little new year cheer from the coalition government, perhaps? Over the holidays it was quietly announced that the so-called ‘war on motorists’ is ending. Which to you and me means that any developers building new houses will no longer have such tight restrictions on how many car parking places can accompany new dwellings.

Over the holidays it was quietly announced that the so-called ‘war on motorists’ is ending. Which to you and me means that any developers building new houses will no longer have such tight restrictions on how many car parking places can accompany new dwellings.

It also means that local governments will no longer be required to serve up punitive parking charges in order to ‘encourage’ shoppers and commuters to use other means of travel to visit city centres.

So does this make sense? Well, it does to me. It seems crazy that in order to buy a new apartment you should have to forsake car ownership. And it also seems odd to be forcing shoppers to use out of town malls when suburban high streets are dying.

And why force us all to drive zillions more miles to do our shopping considering the economic and environmental impact that it has?

That said, in the scheme of things these are minor legislation adjustments. The interesting thing is the direction the coalition is taking. Are we really seeing the end of the war against motorists, or is it just a ceasefire?